NuoraNORD Incubator (2020)
NuoraNORD Incubator was an international project to empower up-and-coming circus initiatives of the Baltic-Nordic region with both material and immaterial resources. The selected participants took part in three facilitated online workshops in which they cultivated their ideas in a co-development process with the support of their peers. The project was coordinated by Kaisa Tiainen.
Project partners were CircusInfo Finland (coordinator), Dynamo Workspace for Circus (Denmark), Cirkus Cirkör (Sweden), Arts Printing House / Menu spaustuve (Lithuania), Riga Cirks (Latvia) and Eesti Tsirkusekeskus (Estonia). The project was supported by Nordic Culture Point.
Read more about the results >>
Crossing Missions for Young Presenters in Circus Arts (2018–2019)
Crossing Missions for Young Presenters in Circus Arts, a project by CircusInfo Finland, La Tohu from Canada and Subtopia from Sweden, brings together young 25–35-year-old performing arts producers from Finland, Canada and Sweden. In meetings organised within the project’s framework the participants have an opportunity to exchange their experiences, ideas and know-how and strengthen their international networks. In addition to developing their professional skills, the project aims to bring young producers in touch with the development of circus art. The participants are two young producers from Finland, two from Sweden and four from Quebec, Canada. The meetings are held at performing arts showcase events CINARS (Montreal 2018) and Subcase (Stockholm 2019). The Nordic producers’ networking is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Canadians’ by the Provincial Government of Quebec. The Crossing Missions project is coördinated by CircusInfo Finland.
NuoraNORD (2018–2019)
NuoraNORD project is aimed at young Baltic and Nordic circus companies struggling in becoming established. Coordinated by CircusInfo Finland, the project focuses in providing the young circus companies with knowledge and skills on strategic thinking and planning as well as long-term sustainable development. Other project partners are Pievilcigas pilsetvides biedriba / Re Riga! Festival in Latvia, Menu spaustuve / Arts Printing House in Lithuania, Manegen in Sweden and Baltic-Nordic Circus Network.
The project is carried out through workshops during the year 2018. In total four workshops will be arranged, one in each partner country. From each country, two producers or artists will take part in all the workshops. The project creates new international connections between participating producers and artists, thus, it lays a solid ground also for future collaboration.The project is supported by Nordic Culture Point.
The participants selected through an open call were Marija Baranauskaitė (Association of contemporary circus Lithuania), Selene Abonce Muhonen (Sisus & Art Society Now /Finland), Gildas Aleksa (Cirkulijacija Festival & Šelteris venue / Lithuania), Patricia Franke (Agent Franke / Sweden), Janis Laucenieks (Association Sansusi / Latvia), Ance Strazada (KVADRIFRONS / Latvia), Kaito Takayama (KaSa Company / Finland) and Mikaela Valencia Veide (Kaaos Kaamos / Sweden).
Read Marija Baranauskaitė’s blog on the project >>
NuoraMentors (2017–18)
The project “NuoraMentors” tackles the everyday problematics of independent circus companies working without permanent funding in Finland. The project is targeted both for artists and producers alike and strives at strengthening the networks within the field. The backbone of the project lies in artistic or productional mentoring for young circus companies. NuoraMentors is based on the good practices of a former project in 2015–16. NuoraMentors is supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Read more >>
Korea–Nordic Connection (2017–19)
Korea-Nordic Connection creates forms of collaboration between performing arts professionals focusing on young audiences, based in the Nordic countries and South Korea. The project includes background research and two study trips, which offer participants in-depth opportunities to get acquainted with potential collaboration partners. Eight Nordic and seven Korean artists are participating in the program, which was launched in October 2017 with a networking trip to Performing Arts Market Seoul (PAMS).
The partner organisations of the Korea-Nordic Connection program in addition to CircusInfo Finland are Korea Arts Management Service, Assitej Korea, Swedish Arts Council, Assitej Sweden, Performing Arts Hub Norway, Scenekunstbruket, Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces, Teatercentrum, Dance Info Finland and Assitej Finland.
SZENEfrei (2017–2019)
SZENEfrei is a three year project promoting Finnish circus, dance and performance art in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2017–2019. Projects supports Finnish performances visiting German-speaking Europe, boosts expert visits to Finland and organizes networking events for Finnish performing art professionals.
SZENEfrei is coordinated by the Finnish Institute in Germany (Finnland-Institute in Deutschland) and its partners include CircusInfo Finland, Dance Info Finland and Eskus – Performance Center. The project is supported by Kone Foundation and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Circus Incubator (2015–17)
The European project Circus Incubator – EuropeS-AmericaS strategy for young artists was created by 7 European and American partners: La Grainerie (France), CircusInfo Finland, Cirko (Finland), Subtopia (Sweden), La Central del Circ (Spain), La TOHU (Canada) and Luni Produçoes (Brazil). The project aimed in one hand at sensitizing the young contemporary circus artists to the internationalization of their career and to the artistic research, and in the other hand to sensitizing the programmers to the young and emerging artists’ follow-up in the long-term. During the project, several to workshops were organized on the two continents. The project aimed at building capacity in the field and was funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
>> Read more on the project’s website and Facebook page
CASA – Circus Arts and Streets Arts Circuits (2016–17)
CASA was a European support programme designed by five arts organisations: MiramirO (Belgium), CircusInfo Finland (Finland), Cirqueon (Czech Republic), FiraTàrrega (Spain) and Subtopia (Sweden). Together organisations join forces to equip professionals from the contemporary circus and outdoor creation sectors to work and cooperate transnationally. CASA was co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, Ministry of Education and Culture Finland and Swedish Arts Council. The project produced five inspirational multimedia market guides in the field of circus and outdoor arts.
>> Read more on www.casa-circuits.eu
Big Muuv 2016
CircusInfo Finland was a partner in Finnish cultural project for children and youth called Big Muuv. The Finnish National Ballet coordinated the project and other partners included The Finnish Youth Circus Association, Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers, Nuori Kulttuuri Foundation, and other cultural children’s and youth organisations. The project encouraged children and young people to be physically more active during the school days. The project promoted dance, circus and tricking as hobbies. Big Muuv was funded by Ministry of Education and Culture.
>> More information in Finnish on www.bigmuuv.fi
Nuora – mentoring project for young circus artists (2015–2016)
In November 2015 CircusInfo Finland launched a new Nuora – a mentoring project for young circus groups in Finland. The one-year project offered groups expertise and direct resource to the stabilization and development of their production structures. The project aimed to increase and develop cooperation within the field and to improve artists entrepreneur–producer knowledge. This was accomplished by direct mentoring and open workshops. The project was funded by Ministry of Education and Culture.
FokusSirkus (2015–16)
CircusInfo Finland took part in FokusSirkus 2015–2016 together with Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, Cirko – Center for New Circus and Circuscentrum. FokusSirkus was a support programme for professional circus practitioners and students in Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands. It offered considerable support to the ever-growing contemporary circus sector and it allowed professionals to discover the artistic and production opportunities available. The project aimed to facilitate collaboration that brought together practitioners from all three countries to discuss the future of circus and circus as an art form, and to develop new production practices.
Taivex2
TAIVEX2 was a cooperative project between Theatre Info Finland, Dance Info Finland, CircusInfo Finland and the cities of Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Pori. The project was a work attachment programme that improved the expertise, managerial skills and international know-how of performing arts professionals. The programme had 30 participants. All participants carried out a work attachment period of 2 weeks – 2 months in a foreign organisation. The programme offered six training sessions over the course of the two years 2012-2013. The main theme of these workshops was management and strategic planning within performing arts organisations. TAIVEX2 increased cross-sector cooperation and networking in the fields of theatre, dance and circus, at home and internationally.
Effective Circus
CircusInfo Finland was a member of the Effective Circus project’s steering group in 2011–2014. The goal of the Effective Circus project was to increase professional employment in the circus field by developing the potential of circus organisation as employers in the field of social and applied circus. The project organised social circus lessons in various communities in Finland, advances methods for researching the wellbeing effects of circus, sells workshops promoting wellbeing in the workplace and organises work seminars to assist the commercialising of circus wellbeing services. Effective Circus was an ESF (European Social Fund) project administrated by the Centre for Practise as Research in Theatre at the University of Tampere. The Effective Circus project was a continuation of The Social Circus project (2009 – 2011).
Unpack the Arts
CircusInfo Finland was one of the 9 partners in the EU-funded “Unpack the Arts: residency program for cultural journalists”, which ran between 2012–2014. Vlaams Centrum voor Circuskunsten, Ghent Belgium, was the project coordinator. Other partners include d CIRCa pole national (France), Crying Out Loud (UK), KIT (Denmark), Mala performerska scena (Croatia), Stichting Rotterdam Circusstad (The Netherlands), Subtopia (Sweden), Humorologie festival (Belgium) and Les Halles de Schaerbeek (Belgium). The project aimed to increase the knowledge and expertise of circus critics and writers across Europe by organising residencies for journalists during circus festivals.
CASCAS
CASCAS was a European project aimed at championing intercultural understanding. It provided opportunities for professionals in the fields of street arts and circus to explore different cultural contexts, share models of good practice, make new connections and challenge accepted wisdom. The project took place from May 2010–November 2011. The partners in the project were Subtopia (Sweden), Circus Development Agency CDA (UK), MiraMirO (Belgium) together with CircusInfo Finland.